Mets Game 162: Win Over Astros
Mets 4 Astros 0
Finally, it’s over.
The worst Mets season since Art Howe “lit up a room” has come to a close — and the team finished with a bang.
The Mets swept the ’stros behind the spectacular pitching of Nelson Figueroa, who pitched the best game Read more
Mets Game 161: Win Over Astros
Mets 5 Astros 1
Only one more to go.
The suddenly inspired Mets took another one from the ’stros in front of the hometown crowd, despite missing cavalry members Carlos Beltran and David Wright from the lineup.
Pat Misch was impressive once again, allowing one run on five hits in five frames.
The offense took advantage of the Houston outfielders’ unfamiliarity with expansive Citi Field, getting several extra-base hits resulting from poor positioning and judgment of balls off the outfield wall. Carlos Lee, in particular, had a rough afternoon, with several balls going off his glove and/or falling safely behind him.
Brian Stokes, Pedro Feliciano, and Sean Green threw 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief before Frankie Fantastik came on in the ninth to get the last out of the game and earn his 35th save.
Notes
In a fabulous, heads-up play by Kaz Matsui early in the game, Josh Thole was thrown out at home on an infield ground ball that was knocked down by Lance Berkman. Catcher J.R. Towles did an excellent job of blocking the plate, and the SNY crew suggested that Thole’s best plan of action would have been to bowl over Towles. Gary Cohen added that the last Met to knock over a catcher in a play at the plate was Ty Wigginton in 2004.
Hard to believe, but I think Cohen’s right. Ballplayers today avoid contact at the plate as a rule; I suppose it comes from the fact that most youth leagues have rules that disallow physical contact, and players develop the instinct to slide at all times. Perhaps also, the players today are too palsy-walsy with each other and don’t want to be “a bad guy” by doing something that might incur injury on another player. That’s too bad, because that’s not the way baseball is supposed to be played. There was and should continue to be a physical element that includes contact. People are quick to point out the Pete Rose – Ray Fosse tragedy, and indeed there have been a few frightening and career-ending incidents, but a handful of those over the course of 100+ years is not enough reason to change the way you play the game. Once in a while, a situation warrants the runner attempting to clock the catcher — and in those situations, it’s usually more dangerous for the runner to be sliding. Personally, I’d prefer to see a little more passion, fire, and aggression when it comes to trying to score. (I’m not singling out Thole; you can point to just about every Met and most MLBers who have the same defensive, “always slide” approach — it’s the way the game is played today.)
Thole’s triple gave the Mets 48 for the season, breaking the old team record for triples in a season — which was 47 in 1978. Hard to believe that the ‘78 Mets held that record, especially when you look at their roster that year. The only guy on that team that you would qualify as a legitimate “speedster” was Lenny Randle, who had 8 three-baggers. Remarkably, the team’s stolen-base leader in ‘78 — John Stearns with 25 — had only one triple. (Stearns, btw, set a record for stolen bases by a catcher that season … what a bizarre year.)
Stearns also was the man who clocked Dave Parker in Gary Cohen’s “favorite home plate collision” (mine too). The 6′5″,240-lb. “Cobra” came steaming into home plate like a freight train but the 6′, 185-lb. “Bad Dude” held his ground and upended Parker — busting Parker’s cheekbone in the process.
Hard to believe that Sammy Gervacio had a 1.15 WHIP and 2.25 ERA through 28 appearances coming into this game. His mechanics make it almost impossible for him to command his pitches — his front shoulder flies open way early and stride foot lands a good three feet to the left. As a result he has no balance, his momentum is going sideways rather than toward the plate, and his release point is wildly inconsistent. I suppose the wacky motion throws hitters off, but how long will that last?
I like Sean Green’s new submarine style, though he’s having trouble adjusting to it. His command is not great with it but with time it should take some strain off his elbow and thereby allow him pitch more often without a loss in effectiveness. If you are a longtime MetsToday reader, you know I’m a big fan of the submarine arm motion for several reasons.
Fernando Tatis and Cory Sullivan had a combined 9 plate appearances while Nick Evans remained on the bench. Perhaps Jerry Manuel wants Evans to finish the season on a high note, and feel good about Friday’s triple all winter.
Last Mets Game
For the first time since 2005, we know for sure that game 162 is the last one of the season. Brooklyn native Nelson Figueroa faces Nicaraguan Wilton Lopez in a 1 PM start on Sunday afternoon.
Mets Game 160: Win Over Astros
Mets 7 Astros 1
A chance to go out with a bang.
After getting swept four times in their seven September series, the Mets won the opener of their final series of the season — guaranteeing, at least, they won’t go oh-fer-October.
John Maine was brilliant, pitching perhaps his best game all season. Maine went a full seven frames, allowing only one run on five hits, walking none and striking out seven.
Meantime Wandy Rodriguez’s magic against the Mets continues to occur only in Houston — though his six-inning, 3-runs-allowed effort was respectable. It was reliever Doug Brocail who got whacked for four runs in the ninth inning and swelled the final score — making the game seem less close than it really was. (Was that a Yogi-ism?)
Notes
For one of the few times since 2007, Maine had sharp command of his fastball. His velocity was encouraging, as well, reaching 93 on occasion. He had the ’stros batters jumping out of their shoes on his slider, as well, which he mixed in expertly. Though, I’d still like to see him throw his change-up more often, especially early in counts, rather than use the slider as his change of pace.
If nothing else, this outing pretty much cemented a 2010 contract for Maine.
Both David Wright and Jeff Francoeur went 3-for-4, Frenchy with 2 RBI.
Daniel Murphy hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer, his 12th of the season.
Nick Evans shook off the mothballs and appeared as a pinch-hitter as well — and blasted a triple.
What in the world was Michael Bourn doing attempting to steal third in the first inning with none out and Miguel Tejada, Lance Berkman, and Carlos Lee following him in the lineup? I haven’t watched enough of the ’stros to know what went wrong for them this year, but boneheaded decisions like that are a clue.
Equally strange, in the fifth frame, Wandy Rodriguez sacrifice bunted with a man on second and one out.
Nice conversation among Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ralph Kiner about the enormous number of strikeouts in this day and age. The idea of cutting down the swing and protecting the plate with two strikes has completely left the game since teams pay more millions for more homeruns and Beanehead math said that the risk of swinging for homers and missing on strike three outweighed the negatives. But now that steroids are less prevalent — and in turn homerun totals are dropping — I wonder if two-strike strategy will go back to the old-school philosophy.
Next Mets Game
The next-to-last game of the season occurs on Saturday afternoon at 1 PM. Pat Misch faces Yorman Bazardo.
Mets Game 159: Loss to Nationals
Nationals 7 Mets 4
The season cannot end soon enough.
The Mets had a two-zip lead early, the Nats fought back with a run, the Met answered with an insurance run, the Nats got another run, and the Mets answered yet again with an insurance run. So in the bottom of the ninth, Francisco Rodriguez stepped on the mound to protect a 4-2 lead.
Fifteen minutes and 37 pitches later, Justin Maxwell was mobbed by his teammates at home plate, in celebration of his two-out, full-count, game-winning, walk-off grand slam and the Nationals’ 7-4 victory.
The most horrifying part of it all? I was not one bit surprised. In fact, I almost expected Maxwell to bang one over the wall.
Notes
Tim Redding pitched well yet again, tossing 6 innings of one-run, four-hit ball. He’s gone 6+ innings in six of his last seven starts, allowing 16 earned runs. But how do you measure this late-season streak against a contract for next year, when he looked so inadequate in the ten starts previous? Tough call.
In contrast, K-Rod has been performing poorly as the season wears on. He’s now 1-4 with 19 earned runs allowed in 25 innings since the All-Star Break. Ouch.
Jeff Francoeur, Fernando Tatis, and Omir Santos accounted for six of the Mets’ seven hits.
In the top of the ninth, the Mets had three hits and the Nats made an error but only one run scored.
The Nationals’ Josh Bard had only one official plate appearance yet saw 27 pitches (he walked 3 times).
Next Mets Game
Thankfully for us fans, there will not be another game until Friday night at 7:10 PM in Flushing. John Maine heads to the mound against Wandy Rodriguez.
Mets Game 158: Loss to Nationals
Nationals 4 Mets 3
With their 91st loss, the Mets may have sunk to a position lower than their opponent.
The Nationals may be twelve games worse overall, but right now, the teams are all too similar — and the Nats may be slightly better.
Mike Pelfrey pitched a strong seven innings, allowing only three runs on eight hits and a walk. As usual, he pitched well while cruising, and lost his composure when runners reached base. He was able to limit his yips enough to accomplish a “quality start”, but it was not quite good enough to earn a “win”.
That’s because DC starter J.D. Martin matched Mike pitch for pitch, allowing the same three runs over a nearly similar six innings. In the end the difference was decided between the bullpens, and the Mets came up short.
Pedro Feliciano did his job of retiring lefthanded-hitting Adam Dunn, but as we all know he can’t do anything else and was relieved by Sean Green — who you may remember was tabbed as the replacement for Aaron Heilman. Green walked the first batter he faced, then was the victim of a throwing error by Anderson Hernandez that put runners on first and second. Green induced a potential double play ball from the next batter, but Luis Castillo threw away the relay to first and the go-ahead (and eventual winning) run scored.
Notes
The Mets had a prime chance to take the lead in the top of the eighth when they loaded the bases with no outs, but Brian Schneider fouled out to Ryan Zimmerman and pinch-hitter Jeremy Reed hit a liner to Pete Orr that resulted in a double play to end the inning.
They had another shot to score in their final at-bat, when, with a runner on first and two out, David Wright blasted a line drive to the right field wall. However, Elijah Dukes made an impressive and athletic, running, jumping snare of the ball — and held onto it after eating the chain link fence in front of the scoreboard — to end the ballgame.
Mike MacDougal throws a nasty, evil, sinking fastball. I am amazed at the velocity and force of his lithe right arm whipping from launch point through the release. His arm is like a tungsten-carbide spaghetti whip slashing through mile-high thin air — and helped by the gravity and extension of his 6′4″ height. His issue has always been control, but when he finds the plate, he’s nearly unhittable.
Next Mets Game
The Mets and Nats complete their series on Wednesday afternoon at 4:35 PM. Perhaps the schedule-maker had the foresight to know that no one would want to see this game way back when. Rochester, NY native Tim Redding faces Long Beach, NY native John Lannan.
Mets Game 157: Loss to Nationals
Nationals 2 Mets 1
The Mets lose their 90th game of the season, to a team who has already hurdled triple digits in losses.
In addition, rookie stringbean Ross Detwiler earned his first MLB win — in his lucky 13th start. The 6′5″, 180-lb. Detwiler scattered seven hits in six innings and disappeared at one point of the game — then magically reappeared when he turned his shoulders square to the TV camera.
Another tough loss for Nelson Figueroa, who spun six innings of six-hit ball, striking out five but allowing two runs to cross the plate.
Notes
The Mets had runners in scoring position in six different innings, but never drove one in. They left 10 on base during the game.
Some guy named Mike Morse went 3-for-4 with a solo homer. He’s a 6′5″, 235-lb. infielder / outfielder plucked from the Seattle organization in late June. He was also a teammate of Jeremy Reed both in the ChiSox and Mariners organizations. The Mets couldn’t get this guy in the J.J. Putz deal?
At one point in the telecast, Kevin Burkhardt suggested that Pedro Feliciano wouldn’t mind expanding his role from LOOGY to setup man. I don’t know if Perpetual Pedro could handle the role, but it certainly would’ve made sense to give him the chance this September. Everyone is in agreement that Feliciano can retire lefthanded hitters with acceptable consistency, and Mets manager Jerry Manuel has bemoaned many times the lack of a “crossover guy”. It’s too late now, but it might have made sense to give Feliciano a shot to pitch against both lefties AND righties, to learn whether he could be that guy, rather than continuing to set up “matchups” in these meaningless games.
Next Mets Game
The Mets and Nationals play again on Tuesday night at 7:05 PM. Mike Pelfrey faces J.D. Martin.
Mets Game 156: Win Over Marlins
Mets 4 Marlins 0
Payback’s a beach …
It wasn’t quite as dramatic as the Marlins’ extinguishing of the Mets’ playoff chances at the end of the 2007 and 2008 seasons, but this game more or less put the kibosh on Florida’s shot at the Wild Card.
Patrick Misch used magic, voodoo, smoke, and mirrors to get through the first five frames, in which he allowed 11 baserunners — yet not one scored. After that, though, he set the Fish down in order, finishing his second MLB win, first shutout, and first complete game.
Meanwhile, the Mets scored four despite the absence of the cavalry — David Wright and Carlos Beltran both had the day off, and well, Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes still aren’t back. So Jeff Francoeur picked up the slack, blasting his 14th homerun of the season (9th as a Met), and Anderson Hernandez of all people hitting a solo shot. Those two dingers and a sac fly by Josh Thole accounted for the day’s scoring.
Notes
Francoeur also reached over the rightfield wall to snare a fly ball off the bat of Chris Coghlan to prevent a homerun and preserve the shutout.
Wilson Valdez had three hits and played fine defense at shortstop.
Ronny Paulino drives me nuts; he might be one of the most athletic and skilled catchers in the National League, but his lapses in focus and bouts of laziness make him an enigma. He reminds me of Javier Lopez in a non-contract year.
The Marlins have so much good young pitching, but those youngsters can’t seem to put it together. I wonder if they would benefit from a veteran backstop like Pudge Rodriguez, or a different pitching coach / manager. There seems to be a lot of untapped potential on the Miami mound.
Next Mets Game
The Mets move on to Washington, DC to face the Nationals on Monday night. Nelson Figueroa faces Ross Detwiler in a 7:05 PM start.
Mets Game 155: Loss to Marlins
Marlins 9 Mets 6
A ninth-inning rally closed the gap, but the game really wasn’t that close.
John Maine was OK through the first four frames, then the wheels came off in the fifth. By the time he exited, his line was: 4 2/3 IP, 7 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 3 K.
We’ll just go straight to the notes.
Notes
Jorge Cantu had another big game against the Mets — he went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles, 2 runs scored, and an RBI. The double in the fifth opened up the floodgates. His average is only .270 vs. the Mets this year, but he seems to have huge games against them — to the point where his performances were so memorable, my wife thought he PLAYED for the Mets (in the past – she knows he’s not on the team now).
My wife also thinks MLB should use the mercy rule. Not the worst idea I’ve heard.
David Wright’s timing is all screwed up. And he admitted to thinking about that inside pitch. I’ve said it before here, and I’ll say it again: the biggest difference between the “modern” era and 25-30 years ago is not steroids as much as the zero-tolerance policy for inside pitches / hit batters. It doesn’t matter how strong you are — if you have one bit of fear, the pitcher has the advantage. Goose Gossage calls today’s game “home run derby” because hitters no longer are concerned about being hit by a pitch.
Sometimes Keith Hernandez says the darnedest things …. for example, in the midst of John Maine’s control issues in the bottom of the fourth, Keith quips, “I like the way John Maine is pitching” — in reference to his hitting Cody Ross with a pitch and proceeding to miss in and up on his next few pitches before hitting John Baker minutes later. Keith seemed to think that Maine was purposely throwing the ball inside, but the truth is that Maine had no clue where the ball was going, and was missing his target on nearly every pitch that inning. There’s nothing good about lack of command. Maine’s terrible mechanics make it very difficult for him to throw the ball anywhere other than up and in to RH hitters, as we’ve covered here on several occasions. (But don’t take it from me — watch his pitches, and count how many run in toward RHs / away from LHs.)
Speaking of illogical thought processes, Ron Darling mentioned that he spoke to Dan Warthen about Maine and asked if there was anything about Maine’s mechanics that would alert him as to whether he was hurting himself. Warthen told Darling that he has a “simple” method of: if he sees Maine’s ball tailing in to the RH hitter, then “he knows that there’s a problem with his arm slot”. Huh? Again, Maine’s usual mechanics cause his pitches to “naturally” ride in to the RH hitter — it has very little, if anything, to do with arm slot, and everything to do with the over-rotation of his hips. Furthermore, Maine’s physical problem is with his shoulder. A low arm slot would put more pressure on his elbow and actually take pressure OFF his shoulder. So again, I’m not getting the logic behind Warthen’s analytics.
Awesome doubletalk by Jerry Manuel during the postgame. David Lennon opened a question to him saying that Maine looked uncomfortable and asked if he was physically OK. Manuel responded that Maine’s “healthy, physically fine”, then closed the answer mentioning “a dead arm” and saying “with Maine health is a big issue”.
The Mets were sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. And they’ve been so, since Opening Day — as Bobby Ojeda also stated during the postgame. I stand behind my belief that the awful fundies would have done in the Mets regardless of the injuries. Under Jerry Manuel, the Mets play bad baseball — it matters not who is on the field.
Ojeda WENT OFF on the Mets’ lack of fundamentals all year. At one point he said, “all this talk about the return of the cavalry, blah blah blah — it doesn’t matter!”. I love you, Bobby.
Ojeda was also convinced that Maine was having a physical issue on this evening. This may have been Ojeda’s best postgame ever.
Two BIG mistakes by David Wright in the fifth inning, on the same play. With two outs and Wright on second base, Jeff Francoeur hit a liner to the outfield. Wright held up at first — apparently, he did not know there were two outs or he would’ve been sprinting at the crack of the bat. Then, he slowed down to a brisk jog about 20 feet before he reached home plate — and Francoeur was tagged out at second base moments before Wright touched the plate. Therefore, the run did not count. In that situation, the manager has to pull the player from the game — I don’t care if it’s David Wright or Babe Ruth.
And as long as we’re talking about poor fundamentals, Omir Santos allowed two balls to get “through the wickets” for wild pitches. In both cases, he was trying to “field” the ball with his glove up off the ground. Young catchers, pay attention: you always, always get the glove on the ground FIRST, and leave it there, and block the ball with your body. In addition, when your knees go down, your feet should go IN together and touch each other behind you. This way, if the ball does get under your glove / through your legs, it will be stopped by your feet and not roll to the backstop. I have seen very few MLB catchers execute this proper technique — mainly because it’s not taught at any level. (But if you live in the NY-Metro area you can learn from me!)
Next Mets Game
The final game of the series begins at 1:10 PM on Sunday afternoon. Pat Misch pitches against Josh Johnson.
Game 154: Win Over Marlins
Mets 6 Marlins 5
If this were 1960, the season would be over — and the Mets would have finished on a high note.
Instead, we have eight more games to muddle through, and can only hope our favorite team can keep the excitement quotient at this level.
Through the first four frames, it looked like the Mets might cruise to a victory. Tim Redding was throwing shutout ball and a three-run homer by Jeff Francoeur in the second gave the Mets a comfy three-run lead.
Then came the fifth, when Redding surrendered a three-run dinger himself — to the NL’s leading hitter Hanley Ramirez.
Redding remained on the mound as the bottom of the seventh began, but didn’t last long thereafter. He walked the leadoff man and was immediately replaced by Perpetual Pedro Feliciano, who got a quick popup but then threw a wild pitch to send the runner to second base. He struck out Nick Johnson, but then intentionally walked Ramirez and yielded to setup man / ROOGY / this year’s Heilman Sean Green. Green promptly allowed a double to Jorge Cantu that put the Fish up by two.
However, the Mets answered with a run in the eighth — scored on a strike three wild pitch to David Wright. Bobby Parnell held the fort in the bottom of the frame, and the Mets went ahead in the top of the ninth, thanks to a pinch-hit, two-run single by Cory Sullivan.
Frankie Fantastik pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 34th save.
Notes
I know Hanley Ramirez is the top hitter in the NL, and had already hit a homerun, but I’ll never, ever, ever understand the “strategy” of intentionally placing a runner on base in a tie ballgame. (In fact, I find very few situations that warrant an intentional walk.) For every time Ramirez hits safely, he’s going to fail at least twice. Further, he was 5 for his last 20 coming into the game. The argument that “you don’t let the big bat beat you” has never and will never make sense to me. How is it better to let the “lesser” bat beat you, after you’ve handed over a free base? The mamby-pamby approach of walking hitters intentionally and creating “favorable matchups” is one of the reasons pitching gets worse every year — pitchers are taught that they can’t get certain hitters out and are not given the chance to learn how to do so. Managers whine and moan that they can’t find any “crossover” pitchers who can get lefties AND righties out, yet they perpetuate their problem every game. A never-ending, vicious cycle that’s about as effective as a dog chasing its own tail.
Here’s a thought: intentional walks are like compound interest — they mysteriously pay immense dividends over the long haul.
But hey, the Mets won this one, so let’s accentuate the positive. Jeff Francoeur, Daniel Murphy, and Angel Pagan all had 2-for-4 days. Bobby Parnell earned his first win out of the bullpen since the summer solstice (actually, a month before then). Tim Redding had another decent outing to raise the bidding for his services in the offseason. Both Jeremy Reed and Cory Sullivan came through as pinch-hitters in the ninth — proving that a) they are NOT the same person and b) they’ll help someone off the bench in 2010.
David Wright has 4 hits in his last 22 at-bats and has seen his batting average plummet 20 points in 22 days.
Next Mets Game
The Mets and Marlins do it again at 7:10 PM on Saturday night. John Maine goes to the mound against Sean West.
Mets Game 153: Loss to Braves
Braves 5 Mets 2
Hope springs eternal. Except in Flushing, in September, 2009. Unless you’re a Braves fan.
The Mets helped keep the Braves impossible Wild Card hopes alive by rolling over early.
I have to admit hope drained from my spirit immediately after Atlanta scored their fourth run, in the third frame. Yet I continued to stare at the TV screen, for the same reasons I’ve watched bad movies in the wee hours, despite knowing full well how it would end and that the story wasn’t going to get better.
Technically, Mike Pelfrey threw a “quality start” — allowing 3 earned runs in 6 innings pitched. In reality, he was ordinary.
Tim Hudson also threw a quality start, expending 18 less pitches in the same number of innings. However, Hudson’s was of slightly higher quality, and in the end he earned his second win of the year.
More happened, but, eh … the notes are more interesting.
Notes
The Mets put their leadoff hitter on base in six consecutive innings, but only scored two runs in that span. They were 2-for-17 with RISP, and left 10 on base.
Nice to see Mike Pelfrey using his curveball a little more than usual in this outing. I would have also liked to have seen more (any?) changeups, but hey, you can’t have it all.
Pelf’s sinker wasn’t sinking consistently — it was often just “running”, meaning, it was moving horizontally and not vertically. Ron Darling noted this often occurred with runners on base and suggested that it could be due to Mike holding the ball a little tighter — a function of stress. That’s plausible. Also possible is a different grip on the ball. I would check the location of his thumb, as it could be a little too far “up” or on the side of the ball, rather than more underneath it. The higher the thumb is on the side, the more it will run and the less it will sink. Also, there could be an issue with the way he’s finishing the pitch (which could be related to the grip). If he is holding the ball more tightly, he may not be allowing his fingers and wrist to pronate through the release. Full pronation with the fingers on top of the ball and the thumb finishing pointed toward 5 o’clock is ideal for good sink.
Strange to see Tim Hudson unsharp — which is expected considering this was only his fifth start of the year. Even without his legendary command, he was able to get out of a number of tough situations thanks to double plays.
That was the key difference between Pelfrey and Hudson in this game. Both pitchers struggled at times, and both had their defense fail behind them to put runners on base and/or extend rallies. But Hudson stayed cool, got tough, and wiggled out of those spots, while Big Pelf tightened up, talked to himself, and let runners cross the plate.
If you didn’t have a scorecard and relied on Keith Hernandez, you might have thought Matt Diaz was playing both right and left field for the Braves. Yeah, I’m nitpicking, but c’mon, Keith.
The trivia answer was Bert Blyleven (the only HOF-eligible pitcher with 3000 Ks not in the HOF), and Gary Cohen noted that Blyleven completed 242 games in his 22-year career. How incredible is that? Consider that the Mets AS A TEAM have amassed only 214 complete games over the last 22 years. Yowza, things have changed. But hey, let’s keep going with those inane pitch counts, OK?
Once again we were treated to the one-two combo of Ken Takahashi and Elmer Dessens out of the ‘pen. We’re really get a good long look at both pitchers this September. Why?
Perpetual Pedro Feliciano also made an appearance — his 83rd of the season — with the Mets down by three in the eighth. Again, why? Is Jerry Manuel trying to rip Pedro’s elbow to pieces?
Mike Gonzalez kind of reminds me of Oliver Perez, the way he’s all off balance, can’t repeat his mechanics, can miss his target by several feet, but throws 93+ MPH with a nasty slider that is unhittable for LH batters.
I noticed that David Wright was keeping his bat on his back shoulder until the pitcher started his motion. This is new, right? It’s a technique that Don Mattingly advocates, to put your hands and the bat into the ideal launching position. I guess he’s using it partly for timing and partly to, um, get his hands in a good position. Perhaps HoJo believes Wright’s hands were a bit too high, creating a long, loopy swing.
Bobby Cox announced that 2010 would be his final season as a manager. He’ll stay on with the Braves in a consulting role after that.
Next Mets Game
The Mets get a day off (funny, seemed like they took the last three days off) on Thursday, and will travel to Miami to face the Marlins for a three-game weekend series. Game one begins at 7:10 PM on Friday night and pits Tim Redding against Ricky Nolasco.
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